Former Blount coach Harris honored by Saturday's jamboree

Jon Hauge, CorrespondentBlount's D'Anelious Packer looks for running room against Moss Point on Saturday during the Ben Harris Spring Jamboree.

Ben Harris was back at Blount High School on Saturday, but he was wearing a blue shirt. Harris, who led Blount to four state championships in the 1990s, is now an assistant coach at Moss Point (Miss.), which joined the Leopards, Williamson, LeFlore and B.C. Rain at Blount for the first Ben Harris Spring Jamboree.

"Coach Harris is a legend here and we just wanted to honor him and bring something back to the community and get them excited," Blount coach Kelvin Sigler said. "We went over to Foley last year (for the Riviera Utilities Football Classic) and they didn't do the deal (this year), so I thought it'd be a great idea to bring it here to Blount High School and invite some teams. I thought we had a pretty good turnout here today."

Included in the turnout were several college scouts like Alabama's Jeremy Pruitt, Auburn's Curtis Luper and coaches from Troy, Arkansas State and several other schools. Luper spent the early afternoon at Blount, then headed into Mobile to catch the end of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Spring Classic featuring McGill-Toolen, Davidson and Daphne at Archbishop Lipscomb Park.

Also watching at Lipscomb was Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker, a former Foley and McGill-Toolen standout who stood out on the sideline with his bright crimson T-shirt and 6-foot-7 frame.

On the field, the teams in both events played two-quarter games, with the first quarter featuring starters and the second quarter largely played by junior-varsity players. Davidson topped McGill-Toolen 14-7 and edged Daphne 14-10, although they trailed the Trojans 10-7 at the end of the varsity quarter. Daphne, which got touchdowns in both games from tailback T.J. Yeldon, topped McGill-Toolen 10-7 after trailing 7-3 in the first quarter.

"I was very pleased with the effort and the intensity for a spring game," Daphne coach Glenn Vickery said. "You get a little better idea how kids react under the lights."

At Blount, the host Leopards stole the show, blanking B.C. Rain 27-0 and topping Moss Point 14-2. The Leopards played without starting quarterback Quinterris Toppings due to an unspecified off-the-field issue, but Michael Ward and Darien Lewis each tossed touchdown passes in his absence.

LeFlore also won both its matchups, edging Williamson 16-14 and beating B.C. Rain 16-6. Alabama commitment Danny Woodson caught a touchdown pass in each game, including a bomb down the left sideline from Dominique Crum against Rain. Jevon Dixon also caught a scoring pass from Joseph Pugh against Williamson, and D'Aaron Frye returned an interception for a score against Rain.

Jarvis Pryear scored the only points for B.C. Rain, which lost starting quarterback Omar Smith to a leg injury.

"We're depending on some guys who haven't played," said Rain coach Eric Scott. "We're young on the defensive and offensive lines."

In the other matchup, Williamson edged Moss Point 14-13 on a missed extra point. Harris called it "a great honor" to have the event named for him.

"I thank Mr. (principal Jerome) Woods, coach Sigler and all them for doing that, all the Blount alumni," Harris said. "I think I've got four or five former players over here coaching, so it's a blessing. Blount's looking good, and we were glad to come over and play the game. It's good experience for our kids."